Drafting drive assembly



Feb. 28, 1961 w. H. TABOR DRAFTING DRIVE ASSEMBLY 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 12, 1959 INVENTOR.

WARNER H. TABOR ATTORNEYS Feb. 28, 1961 w, TABOR 2,972,786

DRAFTING DRIVE ASSEMBLY Filed June 12, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

WARNER H. TABOR ATTORNEYS retarding the speed of the back rolls.

2,972,786 I DRAFIING DRIVE ASSEMBLY Warner ,H. Tabor, Bristol, R.I., assignor to Dixon Corporation, a corporation of Rhode Island I Filed June 12, 1959, Ser. No. 819,853. 4 Claims. (Cl. 19-130 This invention relates to spinning frames and particularly the drafting assembly associated therewith.

There are several different basic types of drafting' mechanism, but the instantinvention is intended to apply to all of the basic systems which are in use. With the advent of increased draft that is desired in some of the newer processes, it is necessary generally to install new As a general propo- Y gearing on older spinning frames. sition, the front pair of rolls rotates many times faster than the rear pair. For example, to securea draft of 15 the rear pair of rolls may turn at rpm. and the front pair at 150 rpm. increase in draft is required, either the front rolls must turn faster or the rear rolls turn slower or bothconditions be set in. Since there are limitations on the maximum speed of the front rolls imposed by the maximum speed of the traveler, drafts are generally increased by Inasmuch as it is the front roll which is generally the driven roll, it is therefore necessary to insert additional gearing between the front roll and the back roll which has been done in the past by the use of a multiple chain of gears involving re-boring of the end of the spinning frame and a consequent considerable mechanical change in order to accommodate the many speed reducing gears that have been used in the past. It is obvious that when such an operation occurs that the down time of the spinning frame is considerable during the changeover cycle which is not desirable from a production standpoint.

It is accordingly an object of the instant invention to simplify the changeover required of the shorter draft frames.

A more specific object of the invention is to change the crown gear to a planetary gear which in one simple change will produce the desired speed reduction.

A further object is to provide a simple gearing change in which the input and output rotative directions are identical.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists of certain novel features of construction as will be more fully described and particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a perspective view partially diagrammatic with parts broken away showing the drive end of a drafting portion of a spinning frame;

Figure 2 is a top view of the drive end with several parts omitted for clarity;

Figure 3 is an exploded perspective view of one form of the planetary gear of the invention; and

Figure 4 is an exploded view of an alternate form of planetary gearing made in accordance with the invention.

In proceeding with this invention, I form a suitable planetary gear as a replacement unit for the usual crown gear of the drafting section of a spinning frame. The planetary gearing serves to reduce the speed of the drive as received from the head end and thus decrease the It becomes apparent that if an I PatentedFeb. 28, 196

- gages a planetary crown gear 12. The planetary crown gear 12 is mounted for swinging movement on what is Iterrned a swing arm 13 which swing arm pivotally engages the front roll of the shaft 10 as at 14 on a suitable bearing (not shown) and will remain in adjusted position by a fastening means generally indicated 15 whichengages an arcuate slot 16 in the swing arm. The output of the planetary crown gear has connected thereto a draft change gear 17 which in turn connects with a back roll gear 18. As known to those skilled in the art, further draft changes can be secured by changing the draft change gear 17, and it is for this reason that the crown gear which'mounts the change gear is aflix'ed to a swing ing arm so that such variations may be .facilitated. The

back roll gear 18 is mounted on the back roll shaft 19 which shaft is suitably secured in bearings (not shown) and also carries thereon a middle roll drive pinion 20 which engages an idler gear 21 that in turn drives a middle roll pinion 22 secured to the middle roll shaft 23 which again is mounted in suitable bearings (not shown).

Referring now to Figure 3, there is shown herein an exploded view of one form of a planetary crown gear which may be utilized to replace the usual crown gear of a spinning frame. As will be seen in the first two figures of the drawings, the assembled planetary gear appears at first glance to be identical with the usual crown gear. However, in the internal section of the gear we have basically an internal sun gear 25 and four planet gears 26 plus an external sun gear 27. To accomplish this assembly, it will be seen that the usual crown gear is bored out as at 28 to provide a cylindrical recess Centrally of this recess there is provided a bore 29 and on the peripheral portion of the recess there is mounted the external sun gear 27, the latter of which is secured in the recess by suitable fastening means herein shown as bolts 30. The internal sun gear 25 is fixedly mounted on a shaft 31 which has an enlarged section as at 32 that is received within the bore 29. For attachment to the swing arm 13, a flattened portion is provided on the shaft 31 as at 33 which mates with the slot 34 in the swing arm and which is suitably secured thereto by securing means 39. The shaft 31 extends through a bearing 35 in a cover plate 36 and the central bore of the draft change gear 17. The draft change gear 17 is suitably secured to the plate 36 and the plate 36 in turn carries the planet gears 26 on stub shafts 37. When the mechanism is assembled, it will be apparent that not only will a speed reduction be obtained between the input to the planetary crown gear periphery and the output as at the draft change gear 17, which reduction can be regularly calculated since the reduction is an inverse ratio between the number of teeth in the internal sun gear divided by the number of teeth in the external sun gear plus one, but also the crown gear portion and the output portion will rotate in the same direction.

Referring now to Figure 4, there is shown in reverse relationship to Figure 3 another form of planetary gearing which may be utilized and which in this instance consists of a similarly formed or modified crown gear that has a cylindrical recess 40 within which there is mounted an internal sun gear 41 which is fixedly attached to the planetary gear 12. This internal sun gear is, provided with a central bearing opening 42 which receives a shaft 43. The shaft 43 has mounted thereon a supporting plate 44 which carries a number of planet gears 45 on stub shafts 47. Surrounding the planet gears is an external sun gear 46, the external periphery of which is received in mating relationship within the recess 40. In operation it should first be noted that the plate 44 is fixed to shaft 43 and the external sun gear 46 is held stationary by attachrnent to a rigid section of the frame such as the swing arm 13 which will be mounted between the sun gear 46 and thedraft change gear 17. Accordingly, when the planet gear 12 is rotated, the internal sun gear will likewise rotate, driving the planet gears 45 and rotating the shaft 43 to produce a speed reduction output therefrom. Although not shown in the drawing, it. is to be understood that the left end of shaft 43 as shownin the drawing will have fixedly attached thereto a draft change gear 17.

It will be apparent that by utilizing gearing arrangement such as described a very compact package and simple change for the drafting ratio may be made. Also such an assembly lends itself for semi-permanent lubrication for the entire interior of the assembly may be filled with a non-fluid. Greasing and periodic re-greasing may be done through an Alemite fitting such as shown at 50, which connects with apertures such as 51. It will also be appreciated by those in the industry that the simple changeover that can be effected by use of this invention will lessen the down time of the frame, for it eliminates the need to cut through the head end of the frame to install the multiple compound gears usually required. Also this gearing is adapted for all lengths of frames when properly designed to accommodate the various loads.

I claim:

1. In a spinning frame having a plurality of drafting rolls, a driving assembly for rotating said rolls comprising means for driving the front roll, planetary gearing driven from the front roll, said planetary gearing having its output coupled to a draft change gear, said draft change gear driving suitable gearing driving the remaini g rolls of said drafting assembly.

2. An apparatus as in claim 1 wherein said planetary gearing is mounted on a swinging arm and consists of a unitary assembly of an external gear having a cylindrical recess in which are received internal. and external sun gears and planet gears mounted for rotation therebetween.

3. An apparatus as in claim 2 wherein the external sun gear is fixedly mounted to said frame.

4. An apparatus as in claim 2 wherein the internal sun gear is fixedly mounted to said frame.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 367,532 Ljung Aug. 2, 1887 1,435,821 Dorsey Nov. 14, 1922 2,177,929 Lambert .2.. Oct. 31, 1939 2,544,468 Noguera Mar. 6, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS 731,839 Great Britain June 15, 1955 

